Oregon L.O.W.F.I

Archive for May, 2010

I started a new blog: Animal Forteana.

A grasshopper invasion warning has been issued for the Pacific Northwest:

http://www.krem.com/news/local/WSU-warns-of-grashopper-invasion-94590044.html

The Pacific Northwest must prepare for the worst grasshopper outbreak in 30 years.

Scientists for Washington State University and the USDA found a big increase in the number of grasshopper eggs last fall, and a relatively mild spring has set the stage for a major grasshopper infestation

Image in public domain

Oregon Sasquatch Symposium
Saturday, June 19 at 9:00 am
Sunday, June 20 at 5:00 pm
Eugene, Oregon –  Lane Community College Campus

Autumn Williams will be the keynote speaker. See here for Autumn’s excellent blog post about the symposium, her thoughts on witnesses and BF and her new book… (in fact, her whole site is the best in the field, I think, for it contains data, research, as well as an open minded approach to various Bigfoot theories…)

Toby Johnson is the one behind all this, and it seems like he’s doing a fantastic job!

Visit the Symposium site for more info.

See you there!

Pretty interesting stuff, we see this in Eugene all the time.

Sun Dogs, YouTube vid

I was surprised to find that the skeptibunkies at the JREF have created a thread devoted to the McMinnville UFO Fest.

Among the expected and usual, is this comment from “kittynh” (who likes to play UFO researcher; explore the history, if you have the inclination) on Travis Walton:

TRAVIS WALTON is still raking in money on the UFO thing?

Yeah, he and all other UFO researchers and witnesses are rolling in the dough, as we all know. That’s how we can afford our secret underground tin foil encased villa in the Mediterranean.

“Gord in Toronto” reassures fellow skeptics that:

The UFO folks are “Mostly harmless”* and it’s not likely that you’ll be inducted into any cult.

Of course there were a few members who posted this infamous link to the Trent UFO sighting (of which the McMinnville UFO conference/fest is in homage to) that rabid skeptoid Robert Sheaffer “debunks” the Trent case. Sheaffer is not only among the most loathsome of skeptics, he’s a raging misogynist.

As I posted on UFOMystic a week or so ago, (A Ha! I Knew It; Skeptics Infiltrate McMinnville UFO Fest) the skeptics do intentionally infiltrate the McMinnville UFO conference, as no doubt they do all over the country at various UFO conferences. I hadn’t heard any skeptic questions asked during the Q&A this time, but I did leave while they were still taking questions at all three presentations. So it’s possible I missed something skeptoid wise. I know in years past they asked ponderous, pedantic and generally stupid questions, though entertaining.

Besides the skeptics not being overt this year, I also missed the religious zealots who like to sing and shout at UFO conference attendees. Maybe they were there and I missed them or maybe they decided to cool it this year; don’t know.

Related stuff:
McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes

Cross-posted at my blog <a href=”http://www.theskeptoidzone.com/”>Snarly Skepticism and Unofficial JREF Watch</a>

A couple of items on McMinnville’s UFO conference: here’s something by Deirdre at Interstellar Housewife, and my item at UFOMystic. More to come, including something on the amazing Colin Andrews. So much to process on that!

This report from Oregon MUFON as reported by Examiner.com writer Roger Marsh: bright, white spheres in the sky in Salem, Oregon. A bit of a coincidence: seen on May 14, the first day of the McMinnville UFO Fest.

This weekend is the McMinnville UFO Fest, which honors the 1950 Trent UFO sighting. This year’s speakers include Colin Andrews and Travis Walton.

In June, there will be the first annual Bigfoot conference in these parts in Eugene; the Annual Oregon Sasquatch Symposium. A great line-up of speakers; Autumn Williams, Sali Shepherd Wolford, and many more. Find out more here.

I’ll be attending both of course!

Getting ready for the McMinnville, Oregon UFO Fest this weekend. I hope to do my first podcast from there — prerecorded, not live, but a podcast nonetheless — with guests Erik Stitt and Deirdre O’Leavery of Instellar Housewife. Both are writers for UFO Magazine’s blog, as well as having their own sites.

Here’s a PDF of a collection of McMinnville related pieces I’ve written, including on one McMinnville Festival I attended where Richard Dolan was the presenter.

McMinnville, Oregon UFO: Festivals and Hoaxes

Two animals, the eagle and the bear, are in local news today.

One story concerns an eagle found on Dibblee Point Beach. The eagle had been shot multiple times with a BB gun:

X-rays show nearly three dozen shotgun pellets in the head, neck, body and both wings of a large female bald eagle found injured on the beach last month, and now investigators are offering $1,000 reward for the identity of the person who shot the bird.

It goes without saying I hope they find out who the bastards are that shot the bird. Amazingly, the bird is alive. It was taken to the North Coast Wildlife Center where it’s being treated and is expected to recover, though, according to the article, it may develop vision problems due to some of the shots so close to its eyes.

By the way, here is the contact info if anyone has information on who is responsible for the shooting:

Anyone with information to help in this investigation is asked to contact Trooper Schwartz at (503) 397-0325 ext. 42.

Eagles are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which:

makes it illegal to pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect or disturb a bald eagle.

In another part of Oregon, this one close to home — very close to home, about four miles from me — a bear is feeding from the garbage cans in the neighborhood. From the photos, the bear looks young. I don’t know if the bear is lost, its mother killed, or what, but the bear doesn’t seem disturbed by humans, either that, or it’s so hungry it doesn’t care:

All of a sudden about 3:30 a.m. I heard a crash because the trash can is right on the other side of the wall,” Perdew said.

Perdew grabbed her spotlight and went outside to see what made the noise.

“Right in front of me was the bear, just chilling there eating some garbage,” Perdew said. “He didn’t run away or anything. He was a cinnamon brown. And I said, ‘Oh my God, there’s a bear.’”

Some of the residents have a good attitude towards the bear in the area:

Dassenko said she isn’t worried about the recent visitor. It’s just part of living in the country.

“This is their home too,” Dassenko said.

The sad part is that the bear might very well become a “problem bear,” meaning, a huge hassle for humans. Let’s hope the bear doesn’t become an issue.